Paper Lanterns

Chapter 4 Φ

Chapter 4 Φ

5 years ago

"Anna! Anna!" A hard pounding came on the door. I opened my eyes and blindly searched for the lamp's switch. It took me a while to turn it on, and the staggering light took me back for a moment. As my eyes were adjusting, I tried calling for my mother, who was sleeping in the room beside mine, "Mom, someone's at the door."

I got up and went to her room. When I looked at her bed, it was empty. Panic started to take over me, thinking where could she be. I briefly searched around the house, but I couldn't find her anywhere. The knocking on the door went on, so I looked outside to see who was calling.

Aunt Coral was standing in front of our door, clutching her nightgown closely around her body. She appeared to be disoriented and lost in her thoughts.

I unlocked the door, relieved to see a familiar face. "Auntie, my mom's not here. Where is she?"

"Oh, dear," she said, cupping my face in her cold, shaking hands.

"Auntie, what's wrong?" I immediately asked her when I saw the tears streaming down her eyes.

"Your mother," she muttered with a broken voice.

"She's not here. Where did she go? Did you see her?"

"I know. I'm sorry, Anna," she said to me before breaking down in tears.

"Auntie, what happened? Where's my mother?" I held her in my arms when she broke down on the floor, not knowing what else to do. I looked at the empty night, searching for my mom. Why wasn't she coming back?

"I asked her to come over... One of the twins was having fever. I was afraid because it's not going down. She was on her way..." She held my hand tightly in hers. Another painful cry escaped her lips and it was drowned in the midnight air.

"Auntie, what happened?" I kept on asking her, tears relentlessly streaming down my face. "Where's Mom? Why isn't she coming back?"

"Anna... Anna..." she repeated my name in such a distressed voice. Anna... I had always been Anna, because that was my mother's nickname for me. But now, that name sounded dreading. This was the first time I'd heard my name being called that way, and I didn't like the sound of it.

"Auntie, tell me what happened," I pleaded.

"Anna... she's gone," the words escaped her mouth like piercing swords darted straight to my heart.

"What?" I faltered, hearing the very same words I feared.

"An accident... someone accidentally hit her..." Aunt Coral said in between the sobs.

"No..." I tried denying the words.

"Poor child," she said.

"You're wrong, Auntie. She can't... be dead. My mother... my mother... can't die." I stood up, believing that she was inside. I called her, "Mom! Mom! Aunt Carol's here. One of the twins is sick. Mom! Mom, come out and—"

Aunt Carol tightened her arms around me, hushing me down. "It's all right, Anna. We're here for you."

I yelled and screamed for my mother over and over again, but there was no answer. Our cries had awakened our neighbors. They were all asking what was going on. And at that moment, we didn't know what to tell them.

***

With shaking eyes and quivering limbs, they'd brought me to the hospital. My mind wandered elsewhere, as people came and asked questions. Some tried to comfort me; I couldn't hear them. Aunt Coral was arranging for my mother's discharge. I walked away from the crowd, wanting to be alone.